Well the truth is that I don´t have much to report from yesterday ... I must have done something stupid because I was totally wiped out while I had some Montezuma´s revenge. Yea Ciperoflaxin! Today I´m back to normal. I slept for most of the morning, I have never been so grateful to have my own room, then by evening I was feeling better. Abuela (grandma) and I sat on the porch and I read to her from Patch Adams´s book about his institute. The lights and water were out and I wasn´t really thinking ahead so when it got dark I bumbeled around for a while before I found the candles and matches. Luckily for me Diane is all about decorating and the stove is gas, so I knew right where to look for the matches.
Abuela remindes me of Omi a lot. She´s had a stroke and cannot use her left arm, and she´s just the sweetest little lady. The only major difference is that she´s terrified of the dogs ... and the family has 3! She´s OK as long as they aren´t too close, but I tell you what, its hard to help a scared little lady. The other thing that really remindes of Omi is that apparently she was much harder to live with before her stroke. Now we talk about God and I try to read her the bible every day. Her favorite book is the Psalms, and I try to stick with the Psalms of praise. She´s so grateful it almost makes me sad, there are a lot of family politics surrounding her care. She probably only has a few years left so should she just be able to do and eat what she wants or does she need closely monitered care involving walks and healthy eating. I´m of the second opinion. We´ve went on a walk earlier this week and I think she really enjoys the time outside, because when she´s left to her own devices she just sits and watches whatever is going on around her. I try to keep her updated on the family news, and I´m always amazed by how much medicine she knows. Every time I talk about a new disease, like dermatitis, she knows some little tidbit like that its an autoimmune disorder. She´s really paying attention to the doctors around her.
The youngest son Lucas (Luke) wants to be a vet, so the house is full of animals. They have 3 dogs (one is the sweetest little boxer puppy that likes to sit on my lap while I do office work), two guinee pigs, and two birds. The kids are still learning to be responsible with them and that causes quite a few problems. The puppy still isn´t potty trained but sleeps in the house and she can escape through the fense, and the boys (9 and 11) tend to give the dogs just one bowl of food to share which has led to 2 dog fights while I´ve been here. Asi es la vida.
Lucas, 9, is full of energy. He loves to play games like 500 with me and run around. He´ll also tell you like it is. I´ve tried to get him to tell me exactly what my errors are in Spanish, but so far all I´ve gotten is :you don´t know what you´re saying:. Ah well, I´ve got my grammar manuel from Dr. Mata´s class and I knew I needed to pull it out.
Issac, 11, is the showman. I would love to get him invovled in a theather group because he´s always preforming and quick with a taunt. I´ve taught him a few card games, rummy, speed and 21 and he´s getting pretty popular at school for knowing new fun things from what I hear.
Annika, 16, is harder to read. Well, I guess I´m really just saying she´s 16 and therefore not as interested in hanging out with me. She smiles when I tease her, but mostly just does her own thing. She´ve very social, always on the phone or whatnot. And she has a cute little med student boyfriend, 18, who is just starting with the Chemistries and Biochem. I´m not going to lie, part of me is ridiculously jealous that med students get to start at 18 here. But then, the pay is low and the profession is dominated by women, so I´ll leave the US alone on that one.
I spend most of my time helping Diane with her errands. She´s completely overwhelmed and I hope that by being here, I´ll give her enough time that she can relax and enjoy spending some time with her family.
Fran(cisco) hasn´t been around much since he´s been leading groups in Haiti, but I definately think Diane is rigth when she says that he has a pastor´s heart. Its so obvious that he dotes on Diane and the kids. I´ve got this amazing series of photos of him when we were looking at this piece of property yesterday. He has his friend´s baby and he´s gone off to sit in the shade and he´s showing him a flower. Then Issac goes over and sits at his Dad´s feet and both of them are playing with the baby. The light and the plants around them are amazing. Later, I was able to get a few similar ones with the baby´s family and I´m trying to upload those photos so I can email them the copies, but as you might guess the internet is fairly slow here so you have to be patient.
The other major developement in life here is that the Sabados are considering doing some major fundraising to buy a new guest house since the current one only sleeps 30 and they´re often over full. Also they´d like the new property to give them a place to run the first hospice in the country. Diane has been watching one particular compound outside of the city for a few years and it was just repossesed by the bank so its for sale for a fraction of its value. We´ve already been to the property 3 times and the grounds are exquisite, a real feat of gardening, but when we finally got the realator and went inside yesterday it was pretty obvious that the house was too small for the vision we talked about. There are possibilities like builiding another house on the tennis court which would definately be a lot bigger than either the guest house or their home, but I´m uneasy with it. If God wants me to help them fundraise to buy that property as a place of rest for the dying it really could be a beautiful thing, but its too grand for my own long term dreams. The boys and Diane are all for it, but Annika is worried that it will make it difficult for her friends to visit and that the support staff, who she is also good friends with, won´t be able to come to the new property. Fran is also concerned that the property might be too much pomp for what they are wanting to do, but concedes that it does seem that there are many signs from God regarding it. The property is already named Rancho Evangelica, (which I later learned means Evangela´s Ranch not Evangelistic Ranch which would be Rancho Evangelisitica), the property is being looked after by a Pastor and a grounds keeper named Santo (Saint) and one of the other pastors has had several prophetic dreams before and believes that she dreamed about the pool earlier this week. But as she says, God has to confirm it. I will say, I was really impressed by how the Sabados are handeling the prospect of buying a new piece of property. They called in 3 other pastors that they are involved with here in the DR to consider the property and pray for discernment. I´m not sure if that would even have occured to me. One in particular, pastor Ric, Fran called a man of prayer and it was clear that he is a leader in the community. I hope that with much guidance and prayer, the right choice will be made.
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